Identifying a watch!

[MCar]

Need help identifying this watch, i'm writing an article about the watches of British prime ministers and i've managed to identify most of them can't get this one.

Any help will be greatly appreciated, thanks!

It kind of looks like a day date but the bracelet isn't right, then I thought maybe an Omega, knowledge isn't great on those though

[meganfox17]

Hello MCar

My name is Agent Fox 017 at her Majesty's Secret Service !
That's so freakin awesome and at the same time feeling the pressure of writing an article about previous British Prime Ministers. I can actually visualize Sir John Major pronouncing the word "Oh-Mee-Gah "

Wish I had more photographic evidence of the watch worn by Sir John Major but that's ok.While I cannot independently verify or confirm my findings, here are my initial thoughts

1# The first thing I noticed is the Shutter styled solid SS-like bracelet which were well known with vintage Omega Constellation, DeVille and some Seamaster models

2# The watch itself looks small with a diameter measurement of perhaps 34/35 mm

3# The Day Date complication as you have pointed out appears very prominent when a negative photo imaging was created.What does it mean? It means the dial had a day date aperture window with great depth or perhaps a s.c built-in cyclops

4# In a macroshot of the dial in negative photo imaging , can you see a faint star above the 6 o'clock position?
If any of you owned an Omega watch, you would instantly recognize that decoration as a Connie star ! I may be wrong but can any0ne else explain this mysterious image?

5# The applied baton markers are quite thick, looks like onyx indices to me

6# There are very faint lines of font writings below a logo below the 12 o clock position but I admit the brand logo is not clearly visible though.

My Initial Impression : That's an Omega Constellation model with a Day Date complication, an automatic chronometer grade with onyx indices dated to probably the early the 70sWhile it is almost impossible to identify the reference model ,I will try and dig further to identify the watch

[AK797]

Which PMs have worn which, can you give us a few?

[rolehex]

Nice work Agent Fox 017...Nice work.

[MILGAUSS88]

Looks a lot like a megaquartz Constellation.

[MCar]

Hello Agent Fox !

Forgive my delayed reply. Thank you so much for you help identifying this watch. I didn't expect such a wonderful response, it is very much appreciated!

[MCar]

Originally Posted by AK797

Which PMs have worn which, can you give us a few?

Hi Neil,

I can indeed.

Theresa May currently wears a ladies omega constellation in steel and yellow gold.
David Cameron eschewed wearing any sort of jewellery ( apparently this means he is very posh)
Gordon Brown wore an apple watch and a rotary dress watch
Blair wore a rolex submariner and another unidentifiable watch with a see through strap
Maggie Thatcher wore a gold AP royal oak

After this it becomes very difficult to identify on earlier PMs because of the lack of interest back then, poor photo quality and the fact that most British men wore layers upon layers of clothes!

However, there is a world of information on Winston Churchill, a true watch lover! I finished that article in a day as it was so interesting to read about.


If you're interested here is a small part from the piece, with a really fascinating story about his lost pocket watch.

The lost watch - Dent

At aged 19, Winston Churchill entered Royal Military Academy Sandhurst poised to begin a lifetime of service to Britain. His Father, Lord Randolph Churchill gifted him a beautiful gold pocket watch made by M. F. Dent of London, with a half-hunter case and the Churchill family coat of arms engraved and enamelled on the back. This watch was prized by Winston but as fate goes misfortune would befall him.

In his first year as an infantry cadet at Sandhurst, one fateful spring afternoon, Churchill would lose his precious watch to the cruel mistress of the sea, well not the sea but a tenacious stream nonetheless. In a story regaled for years, Churchill realised that his pocket watch had slipped from his breast and plunged into the water, he sprang into action.

Churchill immediately stripped from his dress and dove straight after the small clock into the freezing water, but to no avail.  Any other man would have left the watch, but not our young hero, he would not give up, he would never surrender...his watch.

Churchill hired 23 members of his infantry detachment at a a cost of £3 to dig new channels from the stream. Somehow, he then got his hands on the Royal Military College's fire engine and pumped the pool until it was barren. At the bottom of the this new crater was that beautiful Dent pocket watch, damaged by the elements but not irreparable.

Churchill hastily sent the watch to Mr Dent, hoping to have the watch repaired unbeknownst to his father. But, as when we all think we've got away with out misdeeds we are found out. By pure chance, Lord Randolph had taken his own watch to Dent's shop for a repair, and the unknowing Mr Dent spilled the beans to the dismay of Lord Randolph who wrote to his son after the encounter.

"It is clear you are not to be trusted with a valuable watch and when I get it from Mr. Dent I shall not give it back to you. You had better buy one of those cheap watches for 2 pounds as those are the only ones which if you smash are not very costly to replace. Jack [Winston's younger brother] has had the watch I gave him longer than you have had yours; the only expenses I have paid on his watch was 10 pounds for cleaning before he went back to Harrow. But in all qualities of steadiness taking care of his things & never doing stupid things Jack is vastly superior."

True to his word, after scorning Winston Lord Randolph did give the watch to his younger brother, Jack. The watch would pass to Jack's son and then be lost to thieves, never to be seen again.

[meganfox17]

Originally Posted by MCar

Hello Agent Fox !

Forgive my delayed reply. Thank you so much for you help identifying this watch. I didn't expect such a wonderful response, it is very much appreciated!

Sir John Major has 2 other watches ,an Omega Manhattan constellation model from the 80s ( like the one below) and another non Omega watch on a black strap which I cannot identify. Another reader had listed a MegaQuartz Geneva model minus the fluted bezel but I believe the bracelet type and watch dimensions ( I cant remember but I think its 38 x 43 mm ) in the wristshot photo are not suggestive of a Megaquartz model. However it does appear to me that Sir John Major has a real fondness for the Omega Constellation Series

[MILGAUSS88]

I thought the watch looks like the case on the left with the movement/dial configuration on the right.

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